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REMINISCENCES 


OF    THE 


MILITARY   LIFE   AND   SUFFERINGS 


OF 


COL.    TIMOTHY   BIGELOW, 

COMMANDER  OF  TIIK  FIFTEENTH  REGIMENT  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  LINK  IN 
THE  CONTINENTAL  ARMY,  DURING 

THE  WAR  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 


BY    CHARLES    HERSEY. 


WORCESTER: 

PRINTED    BY    HENRY    J  .    II  0  W  L  A  N  D 

212    Main    Street. 

1860. 


REMINISCENCES 


OP    THE 


MILITARY  LIFE   AND   SUFFERINGS 


or 


COL.   TIMOTHY   BIGELOW, 

COMMANDER  OF  THE  FIFTEENTH  REGIMENT  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  LINE  IN 
THE  CONTINENTAL  ARMY,  DURING 

THE  WAU  ;QF,THE  REVOLUTION. 


BY    CHARLES    HERSEY. 
n 


WORCESTER: 

PRINTED    BY    HENRY    J.    HOWLAND, 

212    Main    Street. 

1860. 


SH-5 


TO 

COL.    T.    BIGELOW    LAWRENCE, 

A  GREAT  GRANDSON  OF  THE  HERO  OF  THESE  PAGES, 

I  Dedicate  this  feeble  effort. 

It  is  written  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  one  of 

WORCESTER'S  MOST  ILLUSTRIOUS  SONS, 

and  also  of 
HIS    COMPANIONS    IN    ARMS, 

WHO     FOR     BIGHT     YEARS     STRUGGLED     SO     HARD     TO     GAIN 

THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF   THE  COLONIES. 


INTRODUCTION. 

-i   •      '••      .  .-'•      f  "i        '•  " 

The  writer  of  the  following  pages  was  dandled  upon  the  knee  of  a 
worthy  sire,  who  had  spent  eight  years  of  his  life  in  the  struggle  for 
Independence,  and  taught  me  the  name  of  Col.  Bigelow,  long  before  I 
was  able  to  articulate  his  name.  Many  have  been  the  times,  while  sitting 
on  my  father's  lap  around  the  old  hearthstone,  now  more  than  fifty  years 
since,  that  I  listened  to  affecting  reminiscences  of  Col.  Bigelow  and 
others,  until  his  voice  would  falter,  and  tears  would  flow  down  his  aged 
and  careworn  face,  and  then  my  mother  and  elder  members  of  the  fam 
ily  would  laugh,  and  inquire,  "  what  is  there  in  all  of  that,  that  should 
make  you  weep  ?  "  but  I  always  rejoiced  with  him,  and  wept  when  I 
saw  him  weep.  After  the  death  of  my  father,  having  engaged  in  the 
active  scenes  of  life,  those  childish  memories  in  some  degree  wore  away, 
but  the  happiest  moments  of  my  life  have  been  spent  in  company  with 
some  old  Revolutionary  Patriot,  while  I  listened  to  the  recital  of  their 
sufferings  and  their  final  conquest.  The  first  history  of  the  American 
Revolution  I  ever  read,  is  found  in  Morse's  Geography,  published  in 
1814.  This  I  read  until  I  had  committed  the  whole  to  memory.  The 
next  was  what  may  be  found  in  Lincoln's  History  of  Worcester,  pub 
lished  in  1836,  and  from  which  I  have  taken  liberal  extracts.  The  next 
is  the  History  of  the  War  of  Independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  written  by  Charles  Botta,  translated  from  the  Italian  by 
George  Alexander  Otis,  in  1821  ;  from  this  also,  I  have  taken  extracts. 
I  have  also  consulted  Lossing's  Pictorial  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution. 
In  neither  of  these  histories  (except  Lincoln's)  does  the  name  of  Col . 
Bigelow  occur.  Therefore  I  have  depended  principally  upon  tradition, 
coming  from  his  own  brethren  in  arms,  and  corroborated  by  history. 
It  has  been  exceedingly  difficult  to  trace  the  course  and  conduct  of  Col. 


VI 

Bigelow  from  any  history  of  the  war ;  but  history,  aided  by  tradition, 
makes  up  the  history  of  any  man.  To  illustrate  :  I  get  the  account  of 
Col.  Bigelow's  conduct  at  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  as  stated  in  section 
vii,  from  Mr.  Solomon  Parsons,  which  I  received  from  his  own  lips  more 
than  forty  years  ago,  and  saw  in  his  journal ;  and  more  than  thirty  years 
since,  I  heard  Gen.  Lafayette  and  Mr.  Parsons  refer  to  those  scenes,*  the 
remembrance  of  which  drew  tears  from  each  of  their  eyes,  and  also 
from  many  of  the  spectators.  I  find  that  Mr.  Parsons  was  in  Lafay 
ette's  detachment,  Gen.  Green's  division,  Gen.  Glover's  brigade,  and 
Col.  Bigelow's  regiment.  All  of  this  I  knew  forty  years  ago,  from 
tradition.  From  history  we  all  know  that  Gen.  Lafayette  and  Gen. 
Green  were  at  that  battle,  and  I  am  happy  to  say  this  whole  subject  has 
very  recently  become  an  item  of  history,  which  may  be  found  on  page 
260  of  Washburn's  History  of  Leicester.  In  this  way,  and  from  such 
sources,  I  have  gathered  the  facts  embodied  in  these  pages.  As  to  the 
personal  appearance  of  Col.  Bigelow,  I  have  procured  from  witnesses 
who  were  as  well  acquainted  and  familiar  with  him  and  his  physiognomy, 
as  the  old  residents  of  this  city  are  with  our  venerable  friend  Gov.  Lin 
coln.  Some  of  them  are  still  living.  There  is  one  man  now  living  in 
this  city,  who  was  thirty  years  of  age  when  Col.  Bigelow  died.  This 
man  is  a  native  of  Worcester,  and  knew  Col.  Bigelow  as  well  as  he  did 
any  man  in  town,  and  heard  him  speak  in  the  Old  South  Church  many 
times,  against  the  tories.f 

These  articles  have  appeared  in  the  Daily  Spy  of  this  city,  and  at 
the  suggestion  of  several  distinguished  individuals  who  wished  to  see 
them  in  a  more  durable  form  for  reading  and  preservation,  I  have  con 
cluded  to  present  them  to  the  public,  in  the  following  pages. 

0  Lafayette's  visit,  1824.  |  Ebenezer  Moore,  born  1760,  Oct.  10. 


COL.    TIMOTHY    BIGELOW. 


i. 

A   MONUMENT    TO   COL.   BIGELOW. 

It  is  well  known  in  this  community,  that  one  of  the  descen 
dants  of  Col.  Bigelow  is  about  to  erect  a  monument  to  his  mem 
ory  within  the  enclosure  of  our  beautiful  central  park.  Col.  Tim 
othy  Bigelow  Lawrence  of  Boston,  a  great  grandson  of  the  sub 
ject  of  this  notice,  received  permission  from  the  city  government, 
last  year,  to  enclose  a  lot  of  sufficient  size,  and  to  erect  such  a 
monument  as  he  might  deem  suitable  and  proper.  It  is  under 
stood  that  Col.  Lawrence  will  commence  this  benevolent  and  pat 
riotic  work  in  the  spring  or  early  summer.*  Let  me  suggest  to 
him,  to  the  mayor  and  council,  and  to  all  whom  it  may  concern, 
the  propriety  of  laying  the  foundation  stone  of  this  monument  on 
the  19th  day  of  April,  which  will  be  the  eighty-fifth  anniversary 
of  the  marching  of  the  "  minute  men"  from  Worcester,  under  the 
command  of  Capt.  Bigelow.  It  seems  to  me  that  Worcester 
cannot  "  afford"  to  let  this  opportunity  pass  without  making  some 
signal  recognition  of  the  event.  Cannot  the  citizens  of  Worcester, 
for  the  first  time  in  eighty-five  years,  gather  with  their  families 
around  the  grave  containing  the  last  remains  of  her  noble  son  ? 

0  June,  1860.    We  are  happy  to  say,  that  Col.  Lawrence  has  the  work  now  in 
successful  progress. 


II. 
^  :ii  ^EARLY^MORTS  FOR  LIBERTY. 

The  iiaii^;ofr/rimofhy,Bigelow  stands  conspicuous  in  the  his 
tory  of  Worcester. '  AV  early  as  1773,  we  find  him  on  a  commit 
tee  with  Wm.  Young,  David  Bancroft,  Samuel  Curtis,  and  Ste 
phen  Salisbury,  to  report  upon  the  grievances  under  which  the 
province  labored,  and  also  upon  what  was  then  called  the  "  Boston 
Pamphlet, "  which  had  been  introduced  at  the  town  meeting  in 
March.  The  writer  of  this  article  thinks  that  this  "  Boston  Pam 
phlet  "  was  John  Hancock's  oration  in  commemoration  of  the 
"  Bloody  Massacre  "  of  the  5th  of  March,  1770.  At  the  ad 
journed  meeting,  in  May  following,  this  committee  made  an  elab 
orate  report,  recommending  a  committee  of  correspondence.  The 
town  adopted  the  report,  and  elected  as  the  committee,  Wm. 
Young,  Timothy  Bigelow,  and  John  Smith.  In  December  fol 
lowing,  the  leading  whigs  of  the  town  assembled  and  formed  a 
society,  which  afterwards  took  the  name  of  the  American  Politi 
cal  Society,  and  Nathan  Baldwin,  Samuel  Curtis,  and  Timothy 
Bigelow,  were  chosen  a  committee  to  report  a  constitution.  This 
society,  with  Timothy  Bigelow  for  a  leader,  did  good  service  to 
the  town  and  to  the  country.  Their  last  and  most  powerful  blow 
was  struck  in  town  meeting,  7th  of  March,  1774,  when  the  socie 
ty  presented  a  long  preamble  and  resolutions,  which  were  consid 
ered  by  the  royalists  to  be  treasonable  and  revolutionary.  "  When 
these  resolutions  were  read,"  said  an  eye  witness  of  the  scene  to 
the  writer,  "  fear,  anxiety  and  awful  suspense,  sat  upon  the  coun 
tenance  of  every  man  of  the  whig  party  except  Timothy  Bigelow, 
the  blacksmith ;  while  the  tories  were  pale  with  rage."  After  a 
few  moments,  James  Putnam,  the  leader  of  the  tories,  arose.  Put 
nam  was  said  to  be  "  the  best  lawyer  in  North  America.  His  ar 
guments  were  marked  by  strong  and  clear  reasoning,  logical  pre 
cision  and  arrangement,  and  that  sound  judgment  whose  conclu 
sions  were  presented  so  forcibly  as  to  command  assent."  He 
made  such  a  speech  against  the  resolutions  as  had  never  before 
been  heard  in  Worcester;  and  when  he  sat  down,  the  same  in- 


formant  said  that  "  not  a  man  of  the  whig  party  thought  a  single 
word  could  be  said, — that  old  Putnam,  the  tory,  had  wiped  them 
all  out."  Timothy  Bigelow  at  length  arose,  without  learning, 
without  practice  in  public  speaking,  without  wealth, — the  tories  of 
Worcester  had,  at  that  day,  most  of  the  wealth  and  learning, — but 
there  he  stood  upon  the  floor  of  the  Old  South  Church,  met  the 
Goliath  of  the  day,  and  vanquished  him.  The  governor  of  Mas 
sachusetts  Bay,  and  the  crown  and  parliament  of  Great  Britain, 
were  brought  to  feel  the  effect  of  his  sling  and  stone.  Suffice  it 
to  say,  the  resolutions  were  carried  triumphantly.  This  was  the 
first  grand  public  effort  made  by  Col.  Timothy  Bigelow,  in  his 
part  of  the  great  drama  of  the  American  revolution. 


III. 
THE  MINUTE  MEN. 

In  August,  1774,  a  company  of  minute  men  were  enrolled 
under  the  command  of  Capt.  Bigelow,  and  met  each  evening  after 
the  labors  of  the  day,  for  drill  and  martial  exercise.  Muskets 
were  procured  for  their  arming  from  Boston.  Their  services  were 
soon  required  for  the  defence  of  the  country.  At  eleven  o'clock, 
A.  M.,  April  19th,  1775,  an  express  came  to  town,  shouting,  as 
he  passed  through  the  street  at  full  speed,  "  To  arms !  to  arms  ! 
the  war  is  begun !  "  The  bell  rang  out  the  alarm,  cannons  were 
fired,  and  in  a  short  time  the  minute  men  were  paraded  on  the 
green,  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Timothy  Bigelow.  After 
fervent  prayer  by  Rev.  Mr.  Maccarty,  they  took  up  the  line  of 
march.  When  they  arrived  at  Sudbury,  intelligence  of  the  re 
treat  of  the  enemy  met  them,  and  a  second  company  of  minute 
men  from  Worcester,  under  command  of  Capt.  Benjamin  Flagg, 
overtook  them,  when  both  moved  on  to  Cambridge. 

The  writer  cannot  forbear  to  mention  a  few  of  the  names  of 

these  soldiers  of  freedom.     Most  of  them  have  descendants  now 

living,  and  living  on  the  same   farms   that  their  illustrious  sires  or 

grandsires  left,  when  they  started  with  Captains   Bigelow    and 

2 


10 

Flagg,  to  repel  the  enemy  at  Lexington.  Eli  Chapin  was  the 
father  of  Mrs.  Jonathan  Flagg  and  Mrs.  Capt.  Campbell ;  Wm. 
Trowbridge  was  the  father  of  Mrs.  Lewis  Chapin  ;  Jonathan 
Stone*  grandfather  of  Emory  Stone,  Esq.,  who  now  owns  and 
occupies  the  same  estate  ;  Asa  Ward,  grandfather  of  Wm.  Ward  j 
Simon  Gates,  father  of  David  R.,  who  now  lives  on  and  owns 
the  same  estate  ;  David  Richards  was  in  Capt.  Flagg's  company. 
but  after  he  returned,  concluding  there  was  going  to  be  "hot 
work,"  to  use  his  own  words  forty  years  afterwards,  he  turned 
over  to  the  tories.  The  organization  of  the  army  was  immedi 
ately  made  at  Cambridge,  and  Timothy  Bigelow  was  appointed 
Major  in  Colonel  Jonathan  Ward's  regiment.  In  the  autumn  of 
1775,  Major  Bigelow  volunteered  his  services,  with  his  men  from 
Worcester,  in  that  expedition  against  Quebec,  alike  memorable 
for  its  boldness  of  conception,  the  chivalrous  daring  of  its  execu 
tion,  and  its  melancholy  failure.  During  their  march  from  Cam 
bridge  to  Quebec,  Major  Bigelow  and  his  noble  band  endured 
severe  hardships,  reduced  by  hunger  to  the  necessity  of  eating 
their  camp  dogs,  and  in  their  last  extremity,  cutting  their  boots 
and  shoes  from  their  feet  to  sustain  life.  Had  that  winter  march 
through  the  wilderness  been  the  exploit  of  a  Grecian  phalanx  or 
Roman  legion,  the  narrative  of  suffering  and  danger  would  have 
been  long  since  celebrated  in  song  and  story. 

One  of  the  three  divisions,  penetrating  through  the  forest  by 
the  route  of  the  Kennebec,  was  commanded  by  Major  Bigelow  ; 
and  during  a  day's  halt  of  the  troops  on  this  memorable  march, 
Major  Bigelow  ascended  a  rugged  height  about  forty  miles  north 
west  from  Norridgewock,  for  the  purpose  of  observation. 
This  eminence  still  bears  the  name  of  Mount  Bigelow.  In  the 
attack  on  Quebec,  on  the  night  of  the  31st  of  December,  Major 
Bigelow  was  taken  prisoner,  with  those  of  his  men  who  were  not 
killed,  and  remained  in  captivity  until  the  summer  of  1776. 


11 

IV. 
MAJOR  BIGELOW  A  PRISONER. 

We  left  Major  Bigelow  a  prisoner  of  war.  Whether  he  was 
confined  in  Canada,  transported  to  Halifax,  or  placed/ aboard  an 
English  prison  ship,  does  not  appear  on  the  record.  But  tradition 
has  it,  that  he  went  aboard  one  of  those  tory  vessels,  so  noted  in 
the  history  of  George  the  Third.  The  severe  treatment  and 
cruelty  he  received  here,  did  not  cool  his  ardor.  His  motto  was, 
"  I  have  not  begun  to  fight  yet."  An  exchange  having  been 
effected  in  the  summer  of  1776,  after  an  imprisonment  of  seven 
months,  he  returned  and  was  immediately  called  into  the  service 
with  the  rank  of  lieutenant  colonel  ;  and  the  next  February,  he 
was  appointed  colonel  of  the  fifteenth  regiment  of  the  Massachu 
setts  line  in  the  continental  army.  His  regiment  was  composed 
principally  of  men  from  Worcester,  though  there  were  some  from 
Leicester,  Auburn,  Paxton  and  Holden,  and  a  braver  band  never 
took  the  field,  or  mustered  for  battle.  High  character  for  courage 
and  discipline,  early  acquired,  was  maintained  unsullied  to  the 
close  of  their  service.  His  troops  being  drilled,  Col.  Bigelow 
marched  to  join  the  northern  army,  under  the  command  of  Gen. 
Gates,  and  arrived  in  season  to  join  the  main  army  at  Saratoga, 
and  to  assist  in  the  capture  of  Gen.  Burgoyne. 

At  this  scene  of  blood  and  carnage,  Col.  Bigelow,  with  his  reg 
iment  from  Worcester,  behaved  with  uncommon  gallantry.  It 
was  said  by  our  informant,  who  was  on  the  spot  at  the  time,  that 
the  15th  regiment,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Bigelow,  was  the 
most  efficient  of  any  on  the  ground. 

Col.  Bigelow  was  of  fine  personal  appearance  ;  his  figure  was 
tall  and  commanding  ;  his  bearing  was  erect  and  martial,  and  his 
step  was  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  graceful  in  the  army. 
With  taste  for  military  life,  he  was  deeply  skilled  in  the  science 
of  war,  and  the  troops  under  his  command  and  instruction  exhib 
ited  the  highest  degree  of  discipline.  Col.  Bigelow  possessed  a 
vigorous  intellect,  an  ardent  temperament,  arid  a  warm  and  gene 
rous  heart. 


12 

V. 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

We  left  Col.  Bigelow  with  the  American  army,  under  the  com 
mand  of  Gen.  Gates,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  exulting  over 
the  capture  of  Burgoyne  and  the  flower  of  the  British  army. 
The  next  we  hear  of  him,  he,  with  his  regiment,  together  with 
Col.  Morgan's  celebrated  rifle  corps  and  one  or  two  other  regi 
ments,  are  ordered  to  march  to  the  relief  of  the  army  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  under  the  command  of  Gen.  Washington.  This  campaign 
in  Pennsylvania  was  very  disastrous  to  the  American  army.  Be 
ing  poorly  clothed,  and  more  poorly  fed,  they  were  not  in  condi 
tion  to  meet  the  tried  veterans  of  the  English  army.  It  was  said 
of  this  reinforcement  from  Gen.  Gates'  army,  that  they  were  men 
of  approved  courage,  and  flushed  with  recent  victory,  but  squalid 
in  their  appearance,  from  fatigue  and  want  of  necessaries.  But 
when  Col.  Bigelow  led  his  regiment  into  line  with  the  main  army 
at  White  Marsh,  a  small  place  about  fourteen  miles  from  Phila 
delphia,  he  was  recognized  by  the  commander-in-chief,  as  the 
very  identical  Capt.  Bigelow  whom  he  had  seen  at  Cambridge 
with  a  company  of  minute  men  from  Worcester ;  and  while 
Washington  held  Col.  Bigelow  by  the  hand  to  introduce  him  to 
his  brother  officers,  he  said,  "  This,  gentlemen  officers,  is  Col. 
Bigelow,  and  the  15th  regiment  of  the  Massachusetts  line  under 
his  command.  This,  gentlemen,  is  the  man  who  vanquished  the 
former  royalists  in  his  own  native  town.  He  marched  the  first 
company  of  minute  men  from  Worcester  at  the  alarm  from  Lex 
ington.  He  shared  largely  in  the  sufferings  of  the  campaign 
against  Quebec,  and  was  taken  prisoner  there.  After  his  ex 
change  he  raised  a  regiment  in  his  own  neighborhood,  and  joining 
the  northern  army  under  Gen.  Gates,  participated  in  the  struggle 
with  Burgoyne,  and  shares  largely  in  the  honor  of  that  victory." 

It  was  said  by  an  eye-witness,  that  "  this  was  an  exceedingly 
interesting  and  affecting  event,  and  could  not  fail  to  satisfy  every 
one  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  the  commander-in-chief  held 
Col.  Bigelow." 


13 

The  American  army  was  now  watching  the  movements  of  Sir 
William  Howe,  commander  of  the  British  army,  who  soon  landed 
his  troops  at  the  head  of  Elk  river,  in  two  columns,  the  right 
commanded  by  Gen.  Knyphausen,  the  left  by  Lord  Cornwallis. 
After  several  skirmishes,  the  two  armies  met  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Brandy  wine.  In  this  battle,  the  Americans  were  unsuccessful, 
and  soon  after  the  British  army  took  possession  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  American  army  took  their  position  at  Germantown,  which 
is  six  miles  northwest  from  Philadelphia.  Here  again  the  Amer 
icans  are  repulsed,  and  each  army  retires  to  winter  quarters,  the 
British  to  Philadelphia,  the  American  to  Valley  Forge. 


VI. 
AT  VALLEY  FORGE. 

Valley  Forge  is  on  the  west  side  of  the  Schnylkill,  twenty 
miles  from  Philadelphia,  and  this  is  where  Col.  Bigelow  spent 
the  winter  of  1777-78,  with  his  regiment,  and  here  is  where  the 
soldiers  of  freedom  suffered  most  intensely.  The  British  general 
had  derived  no  other  fruit  from  all  his  recent  victories,  than  of 
having  procured  excellent  winter  quarters  for  his  army  in  Phila 
delphia.  Here  they  spent  the  winter  within  the  splendid  man 
sions  of- that  city,  feasting  upon  the  best  the  country  afforded  ; 
while  the  American  army  were  suffering  in  their  mud  huts,  half 
clothed,  with  famine  staring  them  in  the  face.  Many  of  the  sol 
diers  were  seen  to  drop  dead  with  cold  and  hunger ;  others  had 
their  bare  feet  cut  by  the  ice,  and  left  their  tracks  in  blood.  The 
American  army  exhibited  in  their  quarters  at  Valley  Forge  such 
examples  of  constancy  and  resignation,  as  were  never  paralleled 
before.  In  such  pressing  danger  of  famine  and  the  dissolution  of 
the  army,  mutiny  appeared  almost  inevitable.  At  this  alarming 
crisis,  Col.  Bigelow  had  a  party  of  officers  and  soldiers  convene 
at  his  headquarters  one  evening, — such  a  party  as  we  should  call 
in  these  days  a  surprise  party, — when  the  subject  of  abandoning 
the  cause  was  fully  discussed.  Col.  Bigelow  heard  all  that  was 


14 

to  be  said  on  the  subject.  Some  of  his  men  argued  that  Con 
gress  could  not  clothe  or  feed  them,  and  they  did  not  feel  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  abandon  their  families  and  homes,  to  starve  in  that 
cold  climate.  When  all  had  been  said  by  as  many  as  wished  to 
express  their  minds,  Col.  Bigelow  arose  and  said  : — "  Gentlemen, 
I  have  heard  all  the  remarks  of  discontent  offered  here  this  eve 
ning,  but  as  for  me,  I  have  long  since  come  to  the  conclusion,  to 
stand  by  the  American  cause,  come  what  will.  I  have  enlisted 
for  life,  I  have  cheerfully  left  my  home  and  family.  All  the 
friends  I  have,  are  the  friends  of  my  country.  I  expect  to  suffer 
with  hunger,  with  cold,  and  with  fatigue,  and,  if  need  be,  I  ex 
pect  to  lay  down  my  life  for  the  liberty  of  these  colonies."  Such 
remarks  as  these  could  not  fail  of  having  the  desired  effect. 

About  this  time  a  large  herd  of  cattle  was  driven  into  the 
camp  from  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut.  Worcester  had  sent 
Col.  Bigelow's  regiment  sixty-two  sets  of  shirts,  shoes  and  stock 
ings,  as  their  proportion  for  the  army.  Other  towns  did  their 
part.  Worcester  sent  £78  in  lawful  money,  which  was  taken  up 
at  the  Old  South  church  after  divine  service.  Now  the  Marquis 
de  La  Fayette,  with  his  money  and  with  the  French  troops,  had 
arrived  ;  now  Count  D'Estaing,  with  his  powerful  fleet,  were  in 
the  American  waters  ;  now  Gen.  Gates,  with  the  remainder  of 
the  northern  army,  had  arrived  to  join  the  army  of  Washington. 
Spring  comes ;  and  the  day  that  the  English  abandon  Philadel 
phia,  the  American  army  leaves  Valley  Forge,  to  watch  their 
movements.  They  cross  the  Delaware  at  Coryell's  Ferry,  and 
take  post  at  Hopewell ;  they  do  not  venture  to  cross  the  Raritan. 
The  English  reach  Allentown ;  Gen.  Lee  occupies  Englishtown; 
Washington  encamped  at  Cranberry  ;  Morgan  and  Col.  Bigelow 
are  harassing  the  right  flank  of  the  English.  The  British,  now 
upon  the  heights  of  Freehold,  pass  all  their  baggage  to  the  hills 
of  Middletown  for  safety,  and  then  comes  the  battle  of  Monmouth. 


15 

YII. 
THE  BATTLE  OF  MONMOUTH. 

The  battle  of  Monmouth,  so  called  by  the  Americans,  was 
fought  in  Freehold,  Monmouth  county,  N.  J.,  situated  thirty-five 
miles  southeast  from  Trenton.  The  commander-in-chief  had  de 
tached  two  brigades  to  the  support  of  Gen.  Wayne,  who  had 
been  sent  on  as  a  vanguard,  and  had  already  come  up  with  the 
British  rear.  These  two  brigades  were  commanded  by  Gens.  Lee 
and  Lafayette.  At  this  time  Col.  Bigelow  was  under  the  com 
mand  of  Gen.  Lafayette.  This  vanguard  of  the  American  army 
had  so  severely  galled  the  rear  of  the  British,  that  Gen.  Clinton 
resolved  to  wheel  his  whole  army  and  put  the  Americans  to  flight 
at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  For  a  short  time  the  conflict  was 
severe.  At  length  Gen.  Lee  gave  way,  for  which  he  was  after 
wards  court-martialed  and  suspended  for  one  year.  The  light 
horse,  also,  of  Lafayette's  brigade,  gave  way,  and  nothing  of  that 
celebrated  vanguard  but  Col.  Bigelow's  regiment,  with  two  or 
three  other  regiments,  remained.  It  was  said  that  if  Gen.  Lee 
had  stood  his  ground,  as  he  might  have  done,  a  decisive  victory 
would  have  been  gained.  Col.  Bigelow's  regiment  was  the  last 
to  quit  the  field. 

It  was  said  by  one  of  Col.  Bigelow's  men,  who  was  an  inti 
mate  acquaintance  of  the  writer  of  this  article,  and  who  was 
wounded  at  that  time,  that,  at  the  time  he  fell,  Col.  Bigelow 
seized  his  musket  from  him,  and  fought  more  like  a  tiger  than 
like  a  man.  This  man  was  Mr.  Solomon  Parsons,  whose  son  now 
occupies  and  owns  the  same  farm  on  which  his  father  died,  on 
Apricot  street,  in  this  city.  Col.  Bigelow  with  his  regiment  had 
to  retire,  but  was  soon  met  by  Washington,  with  the  main  army, 
who  was  moving  up  to  the  rescue.  After  the  troops  of  Lee  and 
Lafayette  had  been  rallied,  the  whole  army  turned  upon  the 
enemy,  and  then  came  the  tug  of  war,  for  "  Greek  met  Greek  " 
The  English,  flushed  with  the  advantages  they  had  got,  and  the 
Americans  under  the  command  of  their  own  beloved  Washington, 
many  of  whom  had  never  fought  before  by  his  side,  were  deter- 


16 

mined  to  retake  the  field,  or  die  in  the  attempt.  The  conflict 
was  now  terrible  indeed,  and  in  the  midst  of  flame,  and  smoke, 
and  metal  hail.  Bigelow  was  conspicuous.  The  English  were 
repulsed  and  driven  to  the  woods.  The  Americans  retake  the 
field  ;  night  comes  on  ;  the  whole  American  army  rest  on  their 
arms  through  the  night,  that  they  may  renew  the  attack  with  the 
dawn  of  day  ;  day  comes  on,  and  the  British  army  has  fled,  as  one 
of  their  officers  said  by  moonlight,  but  it  so  happened  that  the 
moon  set  that  night  at  10  o'clock,  being  but  four  days  old. 

Such  was  the  issue  of  the  battle  of  Freehold,  or  of  Monmouth, 
as  the  Americans  call  it.  We  have  now  traced  the  military  his 
tory  of  Col.  Bigelow  from  April  19,  1775,  to  June  28,  1778. 


VIII. 
THE  SLAUGHTER  AT  WYOMING. 

The  history  of  Col.  Bigelow  is  so  interwoven  with  that  of  the 
Revolution,  that  it  is  difficult  to  separate  the  two.  We  shall 
therefore,  give  in  this  chapter  a  short  account  of  the  bloody 
butchery  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  beautiful  little  colony  at 
Wyoming,  and  what  Col.  Bigelow  thought  of  that  demoniac  cru 
elty,  the  bare  remembrance  of  which  makes  us  shudder.  Wilkes- 
barre  is  the  shire  town  of  Luzerne  county,  Pa.  It  is  situated  in 
the  Wyoming  valley,  one  hundred  and  fourteen  miles  northeast 
from  Harrisburg,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  northwest  from 
Philadelphia.  This  place  was  settled  by  emigrants  from  Con 
necticut  in  1773,  under  the  auspices  of  one  Col.  Durkee,  who 
gave  it  the  compound  name  it  bears  in  honor  of  two  eminent  and 
zealous  advocates  of  the  American  cause  in  the  British  parliament, 
Wilkes  and  Barre.  Wyoming  contained  eight  townships,  each 
containing  a  square  of  five  miles,  beautifully  situated  on  both 
sides  of  the  Susquehanna.  Wilkesbarre  is  one  of  those  towns. 
The  inhabitants  ot  this  beautiful  valley  were  much  engaged  in 
their  country's  cause,  and  nearly  one  thousand  of  their  young 


17 

men  had  joined  the  army,  and  were  absent  from  home.  Most  of 
those  remaining  at  home  were  tories,  although  these  were  not  so 
numerous  as  the  friends  of  liberty.  Yet  they  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  Indians,  and  the  first  of  July  there  appeared  before  the 
fort  at  Wilkesbarre  about  sixteen  hundred  armed  men,  tyo-thirds 
of  which  were  tories  and  one-third  Indians.  The  colony  of 
Wyoming  could  muster  only  about  five  hundred  men.  In  this 
condition,  the  tories  and  Indians  fell  upon  them,  and  put  them 
nearly  all  to  death  ;  only  about  sixty  escaped.  Never  was  a  rout 
so  deplorable  ;  never  was  a  massacre  accompanied  with  so  many 
horrors.  The  barbarians  took  the  men,  women  and  children  pro 
miscuously  into  houses  and  barracks,  and  set  fire  to  them  and  con 
sumed  them  all,  listening,  delighted,  to  hear  the  moans  and  shrieks 
of  the  expiring  multitude. 

The  crops  of  every  description  were  consigned  to  the  flames. 
The  habitations,  granaries,  and  other  constructions — the  fruit  of 
years  of  human  industry — sunk  in  ruin,  under  the  destructive 
strokes  of  those  cannibals.  Their  fury  was  also  wreaked  upon 
the  very  beasts.  They  cut  out  the  tongues  of  the  horses  and 
cattle,  and  left  them  to  wander  in  the  midst  of  those  fields,  lately 
so  luxuriant,  but  now  in  desolation,  to  undergo  the  torments  of  a 
lingering  death.  Capt.  Bedlock  was  stripped  naked,  and  stuck 
full  of  pine  splinters  and  set  on  fire.  Captains  Ransom  and  Dur- 
gee  were  thrown  alive  into  the  fire.  One  of  the  tories,  whose 
mother  had  married  a  second  husband,  butchered  her  with  his 
own  hand,  and  then  massacred  his  father-in-law,  his  own  sisters, 
and  their  infants  in  the  cradle.  Another  killed  his  own  father, 
and  exterminated  all  his  family.  A  third  imbued  his  hands  in 
the  blood  of  his  brothers,  his  sisters,  his  brother-in-law,  and  his 
father-in-law.  Other  atrocities,  if  possible  still  more  abominable, 
we  leave  in  silence.  The  tories  appeared  to  vie  with  and  even 
to  surpass  the  savages  in  barbarity.  Such  men  as  these,  Col.  Big. 
elow  had  to  contend  with  in  Worcester,  in  1774,  and  upon  hear 
ing  of  this  bloody  massacre,  it  was  said  that  Col.  Bigelow  was 
filled  with  horror  and  indignation,  and  swore  eternal  vengeance 
and  condign  punishment  upon  all  the  tories.  Col.  Bigelow  at 
3 


18 

this  time  was  at  his  post  in  Rhode  Island,  and  on  hearing  of  this 
bloody  tragedy,  it  wns  said  hy  the  same  informant,  that  he  walked 
his  room  for  one  hour  without  speaking.  At  length  he  exclaimed, 
"  Our  worst  enemies  are  those  of  our  own  household." 


IX. 

SCOUTING. 

After  the  British  evacuated  Rhode  Island,  Col.  Bigelow  moves 
on  with  his  regiment,  and  the  next  we  hear  of  him  he  is  at 
"  Verplank's  Point."  The  American  army  was  at  this  time  very 
much  divided.  The  great  object  of  the  commander-in-chief  was 
to  annoy  the  British  forces  as  much  as  possible,  and  we  think  that 
it  is  not  saying  too  much  of  "Col.  Bigelow,  that  no  Colonel  in  the 
whole  American  army  was  better  qualified  for  that  service.  His 
whole  life  had  been  and  was  at  this  time,  devoted  to  his  country's 
cause.  He  had  left  Worcester  and  all  its  pleasant  associations, 
with  a  determination  to  free  the  colonies  from  the  mother  country, 
or  die  in  the  attempt.  He  seemed  to  feel  that  the  whole  respon 
sibility  of  the  struggle  rested  on  him.  Always  ready  to  obey 
orders  from  superior  officers  cheerfully,  and  never  wanting  in 
energy  to  execute  them.  The  deep  snows  of  Quebec  had  not 
cooled  his  ardor.  The  fetid  stench  of  an  English  prison  ship 
could  not  abate  his  love  of  liberty  and  country.  The  blood  and 
carnage  of  Saratoga  and  of  Monmouth  had  given  him  confidence. 
The  blood-stained  soil  of  Valley  Forge  had  inured  him  to  hard 
ships  to  which  others  would  have  yielded. 

The  news  of  the  bloody  butchery  at  Wyoming  had  aroused 
his  iron  nerve  to  its  utmost  tension  against  tories,  and  in  this  con 
dition  he  was  ordered  with  his  regiment  to  Robinson's  Farms,  N. 
J.  Here  he  breaks  up  a  "  nest  "  of  tories,  who  were  supplying 
the  English  with  hay,  grain  and  other  things  necessary  for  their 
army.  An  anecdote  of  this  bloodless  battle  was  related  to  the 


19 

writer  by  one  of  Col.  Bigelow's  men,  who  was  present  at  the 
time.  The  English  had  sent  a  company  of  men  to  guard  their 
teams  while  removing  some  hay  they  were  receiving  from  their 
friends  the  tories,  when  Col.  Bigelow  came  up  with  his  regiment, 
and  ordered  them  to  disperse.  The  tories  were  insofent ;  the 
English  captain  refused  to  go  until  the  hay  went  with  them. 
Upon  this  Col.  Bigelow  ordered  a  part  of  his  men  to  fire  upon 
them.  At  this  moment,  one  of  Col.  Bigelow's  men,  from  Wor 
cester,  who  had  just  joined  the  regiment,  and,  we  are  sorry  to  say, 
was  a  coward,  exclaimed  at  the  top  of  his  voice.  "In  the  name 
of  God,  why  don't  Col.  Bigelow  order  us  to  retreat?"  This  man 
in  after  life  received  a  pension  from  government,  and  died  respected 
a  few  years  since  in  this  city.  His  children  are  now  living  here, 
and  therefore  we  shall  not  call  his  name.  He  was  always  afraid 
of  gunpowder.  The  English  were  also  frightened  and  fled,  leav 
ing  the  hay  on  the  hands  of  Col.  Bigelow,  who,  having  no  use 
for  it,  returned  it  to  its  tory  owner,  on  the  express  condition  that 
he  should  not  sell  it  to  the  British. 

Colonel  Bigelow  is  now  ordered  to  Peekskill.  This  is  a  town 
on  the  Hudson,  forty-six  miles  north  of  New  York,  and  one  hun 
dred  and  six  miles  south  of  Albany.  Here  he  frightened  the 
tories,  and  drove  the  British  down  the  river  to  New  York.  Col. 
Bigelow  is  again  at  Verplank,  and  Stony  Point,  guarding  the  pass 
called  King's  Ferry.  Gen.  Clinton  moves  upon  them  with  the 
British  army,  and  Commodore  Collier  with  the  British  squadron 
ascends  the  river  ;  the  British  storm  the  fort  named  the  Port  of 
Lafayette,  at  Yerplanks  ;  the  fortress  had  to  surrender,  but  not 
until  Col.  Bigelow  showed  them  the  points  of  his  bayonets.  It 
was  said  of  this  conflict,  that  Col.  Bigelow  ordered  his  men  to 
draw  their  charge  and  approach  the  enemy  with  fixed  bayonets, 
while  he  himself  laid  aside  his  sword  and  took  a  musket  from  a 
sick  soldier,  and  with  it  fought  more  like  a  tiger  than  a  man. 
This  fort,  being  overpowered  by  the  enemy,  at  length  gave  way 
and  surrendered  at  discretion.  The  policy  of  the  English  is  now 
to  resume  the  war  of  devastation,  and  the  army  is  ordered  into 
South  Carolina.  Gen.  Gates  is  ordered  to  the  command  of  the 
southern  army. 


20 

X. 

DISASTERS  AT  THE  SOUTH. 

Gen.  Gates  takes  the  command  of  the   southern   army.     The 
British  at  this  time   had  almost  undisputed  possession  of  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  and  North   Carolina.     In   this  condition  Gates 
resolved  to  risk  a  general  battle  with   Lord  Cornwallis,  and  for 
which  he   was  severely  blamed.     He  lost   the  battle,  hence    the 
blame.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  he   had  gained  it,  he  would  have 
gained  another  laurel   to   place  by  the  side  of  the  one  gained  at 
Saratoga.     At  this  battle,  Gen.  Gates  lost  more  than  two  thousand 
men,  and  among  them  three  valuable  officers.     Gen.  Gregory  was 
killed,  and  Baron  de  Kalb  and  Gen.   Rutherford  of  Carolina  were 
taken  prisoners.     This   was  the  result  of  the  battle  at  Camden. 
At  this  time,  Col.   Bigelow  was   watching  the   movements  of  the 
British  troops  in  New  York,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.     In 
this  stage  of  the  narrative,  the  writer  cannot  refrain  from  a  pass 
ing  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  those  patriotic  women  of 
South  Carolina,  who  displayed  so  ardent,  so  rare  a  love  of  country, 
that  scarcely  could   there  be  found  in  ancient  or  modern  history 
an   instance    more    worthy    to    excite    surprise    and    admiration. 
They    repaired  on    board  ships,   they    decended    into   dungeons 
where  their  husbands,  children  or   friends  were   in  confinement. 
They  carried  them  consolation  and  encouragement.     "Summon 
your  magnanimity,"  they  said,  "  yield  not  to  the  fury  of  tyrants  ; 
hesitate    not    to    prefer   prisons    to    infamy,    death    to  servitude. 
America  has  fixed  her  eyes  on  her  beloved  defenders ;  you  will 
reap,  doubt  it  not,  the  fruit  of  your  sufferings ;  they  will  produce 
liberty,  that  parent  of  all  blessing  ;  they    will  shelter  her  forever 
from  the   assaults  of  British  banditti  :  you  are  the    martyrs  of  a 
cause  the  most  grateful  to  Heaven,  and  sacred  toman."     By  such 
words  these   generous  women  mitigated   the   miseries  of  the  un 
happy  prisoners.     Exasperated  at   their  constancy,   the  English 
condemned  the  most  zealous  of  them  to  banishment  and  confis 
cation.     In  bidding  a  last  farewell  to  their  fathers,  their  children, 
their  brothers,  their  husbands,  these   heroines,  far  from  betraying 


21 

the  least  mark  of  weakness,  which  in  men  might  have  been  ex 
cused,  exhorted  them  to  arm  themselves  with  intrepidity.  They 
conjured  them  not  to  allow  fortune  to  vanquish  them,  nor  to  suf 
fer  the  love  they  bore  their  families  to  render  them  unmindful  of 
all  they  owed  their  country.  A  supernatural  alacrity^seemed  to 
animate  them,  when  they  accompanied  their  husbands  into  distant 
countries,  and  even  when  they  immured  themselves  with  them  in 
the  fetid  ships  into  which  they  were  inhumanly  crowded.  Re 
duced  to  the  most  frightful  indigence,  they  were  seen  to  beg 
bread  for  themselves  and  families.  Among  those  who  were  nur 
tured  in  the  lap  of  opulence,  many  passed  suddenly  from  the  most 
delicate  and  the  most  elegant  style  of  living,  to  the  rudest  toils, 
and  to  the  humblest  services.  But  humiliation  could  not  triumph 
over  their  resolution  and  cheerfulness  ;  their  example  was  a  sup 
port  to  their  companions  in  misfortune.  To  this  heroism  of  the 
women  of  Carolina  it  is  principally  to  be  imputed,  that  the  love, 
and  even  the  name  of  liberty,  were  not  totally  extinguished  in 
the  southern  provinces.  Col.  Bigelow,  hearing  of  the  loss  of 
Gates'  army,  and  the  appointment  of  Gen.  Green  to  the  command 
of  the  southern  department,  solicited  and  received  orders  from  the 
commander-in-chief  to  move  on  with  his  regiment  to  join  Green; 
but  did  not  arrive  in  season  to  participate  in  the  battles  of  Hob- 
kirk  and  of  Eutaw  Springs,  which  closed  the  campaign  in  the 
south. 


XL 

BATTLE  AT  YORKTOWN. 

Yorktown  is  a  port  of  entry  in  Virginia,  70  miles  E.  S.  E. 
from  Richmond,  on  the  south  side  of  York  river,  opposite  Glou 
cester.  The  British  army  from  the  South  had  encamped  at  this 
place  and  fortified  it.  Col.  BigeJow  had  arrived  with  his  regi 
ment  to  join  Gen.  Green.  Col.  Bigelow  is  now  in  Gen.  Lafay 
ette's  detachment.  Lafayette's  second  officer  is  Col.  Hamilton, 
aid-de-camp  of  the  commander-in-chief,  a  young  man  of  the 


22 

highest  expectations,  and  accompanied  by  Col.  Laurens,  son  of  the 
former  President  of  Congress. 

Another  detachment  was  commanded  by  the  Baron  de  Viome- 
snit,  the  Count  Charles  de  Damas,  and  the  Count  de  Deux-Ponts. 
The  commanders  addressed  their  soldiers  a  short  exhortation  to 
inflame  their  courage  ;  they  represented  that  this  last  effort  would 
bring  them  to  the  close  of  their  glorious  toils.  The  attack  was 
extremely  impetuous.  Gen.  Lafayette  is  ordered  to  attack  the 
right  redoubt,  while  the  Baron  de  Yiomesnit  is  to  attack  the  left. 
This  was  done  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  both  redoubts  were  carried.  One  of  Col.  Bigelow's  men,  on 
being  inquired  of  by  the  writer  where  his  Colonel  was  at  this 
time,  answered,  "  Why,  old  Col.  Tim  was  everywhere  all  the  timej 
and  you  would  thought  if  you  had  been  there,  that  there  was 
nobody  else  in  the  struggle  but  Col.  Bigelow  and  his  regiment." 
Before  the  morning  of  the  19th,  those  redoubts  were  all  repaired 
and  manned  by  the  allies. 

Now  comes  the  celebrated  19th  day  of  October,  1781.  The 
day  began  to  appear,  the  allies  open  a  tremendous  fire  from  all 
their  batteries  ;  the  bombs  showered  copiously,  the  French  fleet, 
under  the  command  of  Count  De  Grasse,  are  opening  a  most 
deadly  fire  from  the  harbor.  Lord  Cornwallis  sends  in  a  flag  to 
General  Washington,  proposing  a  cessation  of  arms  for  twenty- 
four  hours  Washington  would  not  consent  to  it,  and  would 
grant  but  two  hours,  and  during  this  interval  he  should  expect 
the  propositions  of  the  British  commander.  The  proposition  is 
made  and  accepted.  The  British  flotilla,  consisting  of  two  frig 
ates,  the  Guadaloupe  and  Powey,  besides  about  twenty  transports 
(twenty  others  had  been  burnt  during  the  siege),  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pieces  of  field  artillery,  mostly  brass,  with  eight  mortars, 
more  than  seven  thousand  prisoners,  exclusive  of  seamen,  five 
hundred  and  fifty  slain,  including  one  officer  (Major  Cochrane), 
were  surrendered  into  the  hands  of  the  armies  of  France  arid 
America,  whose  loss  was  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  in  killed 
and  wounded. 

At  the  news  of  so  glorious,  so  important  a  victory,  transports 


23 

of  exultation  broke  out  from  one  extremity  of  America  to  the 
other.  Nobody  dared  longer  to  doubt  of  independence.  A  poet 
in  Col.  Bigelovv's  regiment,  made  a  short  song  commemorative  of 
this  event,  in  which  occurred  these  lines, 

/ 
"  Count  DeGrasse  he  lies  in  the  harbor, 

And  Washington  is  on  shore." 

A  wag  in  Worcester,  after  they  had  returned,  changed  it  so  as 
to  make  it  read  thus : 

"  Count  DeGrasse  he  lies  in  the  harbor, 
And  Bigelow  is  on  shore." 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  campaign  of  Virginia,  which  was 
well  nigh  being  that  of  the  American  war.  This  laid  the  foun 
dation  of  a  general  peace.  Thus  ended  a  long  and  arduous  con 
flict,  in  which  Great  Britain  expended  an  hundred  million  of 
money,  with  an  hundred  thousand  lives,  and  won  nothing.  The 
United  States  endured  great  cruelty  and  distress  from  their  ene 
mies,  lost  many  lives  and  much  treasure,  but  finally  delivered 
themselves  from  a  foreign  dominion,  and  gained  a  rank  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth. 


XII. 

CLOSE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

After  the  surrender  of  Yorktown,  the  American  army  divide. 
Part  of  the  troops  return  to  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  to  watch 
the  motions  of  Clinton,  who  had  still  a  large  force  at  New  York. 
The  rest  were  sent  to  South  Carolina,  to  reinforce  General  Green, 
and  confirm  the  authority  of  Congress  in  those  provinces. 

Col.  Bigelow  and  his  regiment  were  among  those  that  returned 
to  the  Hudson.  The  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  embarked  about  the 
same  time  for  Europe,  bearing  with  him  the  affection  of  the 
whole  American  people,  In  a  few  months,  Gen.  Green  had  driven 


24 

the  British   from    the  southern   colonies,  and  they  retire  to  New 
York,  to  join  the  main  army. 

Col.  Bigelow  is  ordered  to  leave  West  Point,  where  he  was 
stationed,  arid  proceed  to  Rhode  Island. 

The  next  Spring,  1782,  Sir  Guy  Carlton  arrived  in  America 
and  took  command  of  the  British  army  at  New  York.  Immedi 
ately  after  his  arrival,  he  acquainted  General  Washington  and 
Congress,  that  negociations  for  a  peace  had  been  commenced  at 
Paris.  On  the  30ih  of  November,  of  that  year,  the  provisional 
articles  of  peace  were  signed. 

Col.  Bigelow  returned  to  Worcester,  but  was  very  soon  sta 
tioned  at  West  Point,  for  what  purpose  the  writer  could  never 
ascertain.  Afterwards  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
national  arsenal  at  Springfield.  After  his  term  of  service  was 
out  there,  he  returned  again  to  Worcester,  with  a  frame  physically 
impaired  by  long  hardship,  toil  and  exposure,  with  blighted 
worldly  prospects,  with  the  remains  of  private  property — consid 
erable  at  the  outset — seriously  diminished  by  the  many  sacrifices 
of  his  martial  career. 

In  1780,  Col.  Bigelow  with  others  obtained  a  grant  of  23040 
acres  of  land  in  Vermont,  and  founded  a  town  on  which  was 
bestowed  the  name  of  Moutpelier,  now  the  capital  of  the  State. 
A  severe  domestic  affliction  in  1787,  the  loss  of  his  second  son, 
Andrew,  uniting  with  other  disappointments,  depressed  his  energy, 
and  cast  over  his  mind  a  gloom,  presaging  the  approaching  night 
of  premature  old  age.  He  died  March  31st,  1790,  in  the  51st 
year  of  his  age. 


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